January 17
January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 348 days remaining until the end of the year (349 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56). Contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances 5 External links Events 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. 395 – Upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire is permanently divided into the Eastern Roman Empire under Arcadius, and the Western Roman Empire under Honorius. 1287 – King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca. 1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon. 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean. 1562 – France recognizes the Huguenots by the Edict of Saint-Germain. 1595 – Henry IV of France declares war on Spain. 1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men. 1648 – England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War. 1773 – Captain James Cook commands the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle. 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina. 1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed. 1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries. 1852 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal. 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War. 1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan. 1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani. 1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. 1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve. 1904 – Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre. 1912 – Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen. 1913 – Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France. 1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I. 1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard. 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip. 1941 – Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy. 1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew. 1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties. 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw. 1945 – The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in. 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again. 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session. 1950 – The Great Brink's Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company's offices in Boston. 1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending. 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States. 1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea. 1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA. 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it. 1982 – "Cold Sunday": In numerous cities in the United States temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years. 1983 – The tallest department store in the world, Hudson's flagship store in downtown Detroit, closes due to high cost of operating. 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation. 1991 – Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V. 1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II. 1994 – The 6.5–6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured. 1995 – The 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced. 1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union. 1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad. 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website. 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people. 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing. 2008 – British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777. 2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths. Births 1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525) 1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508) 1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545) 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566) 1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572) 1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624) 1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637) 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681) 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671) 1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724) 1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745) 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723) 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766) 1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790) 1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786) 1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806) 1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788) 1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798) 1733 – Thomas Linley the elder English singer and conductor (d. 1795) 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829) 1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832) 1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850) 1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867) 1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887) 1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849) 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918) 1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898) 1831 – Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (d. 1903) 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906) 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914) 1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930) 1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918) 1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928) 1853 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930) 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941) 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935) 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940) 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949) 1863 – David Lloyd George, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945) 1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938) 1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951) 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939) 1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934) 1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty English admiral (d. 1936) 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940) 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910) 1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956) 1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969) 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960) 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941) 1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948) 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946) 1882 – Arnold Rothstein, American businessman (d. 1928) 1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972) 1886 – Ronald Firbank, English-Italian author (d. 1926) 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955) 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975) 1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963) 1895 – John Duff, Chinese-Canadian race car driver (d. 1958) 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946) 1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947) 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977) 1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960) 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973) 1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969) 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005) 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007) 1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950) 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966) 1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960) 1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987) 1908 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985) 1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966) 1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981) 1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991) 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007) 1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008) 1914 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015) 1914 – William Stafford, American poet and author (d. 1993) 1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2011) 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987) 1918 – Keith Joseph, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Education (d. 1994) 1918 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013) 1920 – Corsica Joe, French-American wrestler (d. 2010) 1920 – Georges Pichard, French author and illustrator (d. 2003) 1921 – Lorna Cooke deVaron, American conductor and educator 1921 – Herbert Ellis, American actor 1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani general and politician 1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998) 1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican academic and politician, 50th President of Mexico 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012) 1922 – Betty White, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist 1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (d. 1962) 1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013) 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000) 1925 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer and author (d. 1996) 1925 – Patricia Owens, Canadian-American actress (d. 2000) 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and politician 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish-English ballerina and actress (d. 2006) 1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961) 1927 – Norman Kaye, Australian actor and composer (d. 2007) 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008) 1927 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014) 1927 – E. W. Swackhamer, American director and producer (d. 1994) 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973) 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012) 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian-Swiss ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1986) 1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012) 1930 – Eddie LeBaron, American football player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015) 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor 1931 – Douglas Wilder, American sergeant and politician, 66th Governor of Virginia 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014) 1932 – Sheree North, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2005) 1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987) 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003) 1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer/ventriloquist, and television host (d. 1998) 1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996) 1934 – Zlatko Papec, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1934 – Cedar Walton, American pianist and composer (d. 2013) 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware 1936 – John Boyd, English academic and diplomat, British ambassador to Japan 1936 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1997) 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and academic 1938 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (d. 1991) 1938 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (d. 1988) 1939 – Christodoulos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 2008) 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host and producer 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner 1940 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (d. 2015) 1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan physician and politician, 39th President of Uruguay 1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect 1941 – Gillian Weir, New Zealand-English organist and educator 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer and activist (d. 2016) 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and author 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist and educator 1942 – Nigel McCulloch, English bishop 1943 – René Préval, Haitian agronomist and politician, 52nd President of Haiti 1944 – Ann Oakley, English sociologist, author, and academic 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian poet, playwright, and composer 1945 – Anne Cutler, Australian psychologist and academic 1948 – Jim Ladd, American radio host and producer 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland 1948 – Anne Queffélec, French pianist 1948 – Michael Rake, English businessman and academic 1949 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2003) 1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014) 1949 – Augustin Dumay, French violinist and conductor 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American actor and comedian (d. 1984) 1949 – Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (d. 2015) 1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican-American author and academic 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002) 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, and producer 1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player and educator 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, and environmentalist 1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball player and referee 1956 – Damian Green, English journalist and politician, Minister of State for Immigration 1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1957 – Steve Harvey, American comedian, actor, and game show host 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American journalist and author 1957 – Michel Vaarten, Belgian cyclist 1958 – Tony Kouzarides, English biologist, cancer researcher 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress 1959 – Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress 1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player and coach 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese broadcaster and politician, 46th Japanese Minister of Finance *1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1964 – Michelle Fairley, Northern Irish actress 1964 – Michelle Obama, American lawyer and activist, 46th First Lady of the United States 1964 – Andy Rourke, English bass player 1965 – Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer and manager 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1968 – Rowan Pelling, English journalist and author 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar 1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish director, screenwriter, and author 1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player and actor 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer 1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player 1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005) 1971 – Lil Jon, American rapper, producer, and actor 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress, director, and screenwriter 1971 – Paolo Vaccari, Italian rugby player and manager 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer and actor 1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician, 37th Treasurer of Australia 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player and sportscaster 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer and manager 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian viola player, composer, and producer 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor 1975 – Rami Yacoub, Swedish songwriter and producer 1977 – Dante Carver, American-Japanese actor 1977 – Kevin Thorn, American wrestler 1977 – Leigh Whannell, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter 1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter 1979 – Oleh Lisohor, Ukrainian swimmer 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress 1980 – Modestas Stonys, Lithuanian footballer 1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer and manager 1981 – Ray J, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1982 – Hwanhee, South Korean singer and actor 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver 1983 – Marcelo Garcia, Brazilian martial artist 1984 – Kelvin Fletcher, English actor and model 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer 1984 – Samuel Shaw, American wrestler 1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentinian footballer 1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler and manager 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter 1987 – Cody Decker, American major league baseball player 1987 – Oleksandr Usyk, Ukrainian boxer 1988 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013) 1988 – Will Genia, Australian rugby player 1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer 1989 – Hollie-Jay Bowes, English singer-songwriter and actress 1989 – Björn Dreyer, German footballer 1989 – Taylor Jordan, American baseball player 1990 – Frank Golla, Filipino basketball player 1990 – Kaori Matsumura, Japanese singer and actress 1990 – Santiago Tréllez, Colombian footballer 1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player Deaths 395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347) 1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165) 1334 – John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (b. 1266) 1345 – Henry of Asti, Greek patriarch 1345 – Martino Zaccaria, Aegean ruler 1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328) 1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian soldier and politician (b. 1405) 1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557) 1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop and lexicographer (b. 1551) 1705 – John Ray, English botanist and historian (b. 1627) 1718 – Benjamin Church, American colonel (b. 1639) 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662) 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and composer (b. 1682) 1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1671) 1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish-French composer (b. 1806) 1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1762) 1861 – Lola Montez, Irish-American actress and dancer (b. 1821) 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789) 1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813) 1874 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai conjoined twins (b. 1811) 1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812) 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (b. 1804) 1887 – William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840) 1888 – Big Bear, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1825) 1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800) 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822) 1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828) 1908 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835) 1909 – Francis Smith, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819) 1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822) 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860) 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864) 1932 – Ahmet Derviş, Turkish general (b. 1881) 1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893) 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848) 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1885) 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884) 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian historian and general (b. 1869) 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883) 1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903) 1952 – Walter Briggs, Sr., American businessman (b. 1877) 1956 – Blind Alfred Reed, American singer-songwriter (b. 1880) 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925) 1964 – T. H. White, Indian-English author (b. 1906) 1967 – Evelyn Nesbit, American model and actress (b. 1884) 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player and educator (b. 1890) 1970 – Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (b. 1937) 1972 – Betty Smith, American author and playwright (b. 1896) 1977 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940) 1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940) 1980 – Barbara Britton, American actress (b. 1919) 1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer and lawyer (b. 1899) 1984 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1903) 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (b. 1908) 1988 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (b. 1938) 1991 – Olav V of Norway (b. 1903) 1992 – Frank Pullen, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915) 1993 – Albert Hourani, English-Lebanese historian and academic (b. 1915) 1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Russian spy (b. 1926) 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1918) 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1936) 1996 – Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953) 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian farmer and politician, 20th Australian Minister for the Navy (b. 1912) 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906) 1998 – Junior Kimbrough, American singer and guitarist (b. 1930) 1999 – Robert Eads, American trans man (b. 1945) 2000 – Philip Jones, English trumpet player and educator (b. 1928) 2000 – Ion Rațiu, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1917) 2001 – Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930) 2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916) 2002 – Bishop Karas, Sudanese-American bishop (b. 1955) 2002 – Queenie Leonard, English actress (b. 1905) 2002 – Eddie Meduza, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948) 2002 – Roman Personov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1932) 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926) 2003 – Balint Vazsonyi, Hungarian-American pianist and educator (b. 1936) 2004 – Raymond Bonham Carter, English banker (b. 1929) 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914) 2004 – Czesław Niemen, Polish singer-songwriter (b. 1939) 2004 – Ray Stark, American film producer (b. 1915) 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931) 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian businessman (b. 1960) 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1920) 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist and academic (b. 1920) 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, 3rd Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919) 2006 – Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930) 2006 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon (b. 1925) 2007 – Art Buchwald, American journalist and author (b. 1925) 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1951) 2008 – Carlos, French singer and actor (b. 1943) 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943) 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1948) 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (b. 1943) 2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983) 2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek journalist and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (b. 1919) 2010 – Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (b. 1937) 2011 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (b. 1934) 2012 – Ernie Alexander, American educator and politician (b. 1933) 2012 – Aengus Fanning, Irish journalist (b. 1942) 2012 – Carlos Guirao, Spanish guitarist, keyboard player, and composer (b. 1954) 2012 – Julius Meimberg, German soldier and pilot (b. 1917) 2012 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1921) 2012 – Marty Springstead, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937) 2013 – Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1941) 2013 – Jakob Arjouni, German author (b. 1964) 2013 – Yves Debay, Belgian journalist (b. 1954) 2013 – James Hood, American activist (b. 1942) 2013 – John Nkomo, Zimbabwean politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (b. 1934) 2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano and actress (b. 1926) 2014 – Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq (b. 1915) 2014 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1940) 2014 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (b. 1942) 2014 – John J. McGinty III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1940) 2014 – Sunanda Pushkar, Indian-Canadian businesswoman (b. 1962) 2015 – Ken Furphy, English footballer and manager (b. 1931) 2015 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (b. 1931) 2015 – Don Harron, Canadian actor and screenwriter (b. 1924) 2016 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939) 2016 – Melvin Day, New Zealand painter and historian (b. 1923) 2016 – Dale Griffin, English drummer and producer (b. 1948) 2016 – V. Rama Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor of Sikkim (b. 1935) 2016 – Sudhindra Thirtha, Indian religious leader (b. 1926) Holidays and observances Christian feast day: Anthony the Great (Roman Catholic and Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church) Blessed Angelo Paoli Blessed Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch Charles Gore (Church of England) Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (one of Saints of the Cristero War) Mildgyth Our Lady of Pontmain Sulpitius the Pious January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Hardware Freedom Day (International observance) National Day (Minorca) The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras) External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to January 17. BBC: On This Day The New York Times: On This Day Today in Canadian History Category:Days of the year Category:January